


The Lonely Relic Seeker

by mikado214



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Fluff, Found Family, Friendship, Gen, Platonic Relationships, and if you don't use them prepare to die by my sword, idk what else to tag, it's just soft man, lemm pov, they/them pronouns for ghost
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:33:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23750899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mikado214/pseuds/mikado214
Summary: Lemm never had many friends.Or any really if he was being entirely honest.But perhaps this would change upon the arrival of a very small but very tough bug.
Relationships: The Knight & Lemm (Hollow Knight)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 72





	The Lonely Relic Seeker

**Author's Note:**

> Ok so I know this seems out of nowhere but if you ship Ghost with any of the adult characters, even when you age them up, or you read nsfw about the underage hollow knight character get the fuck out of there. My last fic was bookmarked by a disgusting person and since AO3 doesn't let you block people I guess this is the best than i can do.

Lemm isn’t a very social man. And it’s not like he has a lot of people to talk to anyway.  
The lack of interaction has never truly bothered him, the sole sound of the rain soothing to his ears as he studied countless antiques.  
He saw many travellers, many of them bringing him treasures that are now part of his collection.  
However few of them came back more than two or three times.  
Hallownest is tough to survive, and let’s face it most explorers he has met are absolute fools, so it is no wonder that they didn’t survive long.  
He should probably feel sad, but he didn’t really care about it that much. After all, he barely knew them.  
Now that he thinks about he doesn’t think he’s ever even bothered asking for the name of any of them.

But that small one is different.

When Lemm first saw them, he didn’t thought much of it. Hell, he wasn’t even sure if he would see them ever again. After all, they were quite small and armed with a fairly beaten up nail. He barely gave them a few days.  
But then they came back, arms full of antiques. And Lemm would be lying if he said he wasn’t impressed. He knew that most artefacts of this kingdom are hidden away, hard to find and get to because of all the infected bugs roaming. He was already happy when travellers were able to bring him more than one at once but this was… A lot.  
So while it did cost him a lot of geos, he was absolutely delighted at all the research he would get to do. Obviously, he did not show such happiness to the little one but still gave them his thanks before asking them to leave, which was much more politeness than he usually gave to customers. After all, they did bring him some incredible additions to his collections.

Lemm thought that would be the end of it.  
And then they came back. Again and again.  
They were the most loyal customer he had ever had the occasion to meet. What a strange little one. And perhaps Lemm starting to like them a little bit. Perhaps he started to tell them more and more things about the antiques they were bringing him.  
And perhaps he was fond of the way they looked so captivated when he was going on one of his long explanation of the past of the kingdom.  
Obviously, this was all mere possibilities.

But still, this loyalty made him do something he usually never did  
"Tell me little one… What is your name?"  
They seemed thoughtful for a moment and then tried to mime something Lemme wasn't really sure to understand  
"Oh, right you cannot talk… Give me a second…"  
He searched through his desk in the middle of piles and piles of things littering it to find a piece of paper and a pencil and handed it to them  
"Here use this. I don't really know if you can write but maybe you could draw something"  
The little one nodded enthusiastically as they took the pencil and paper. However, they were much too small to use the desk as support for writing. But they were a resourceful one, and before Lemme could even think of helping them they had already pushed a chair and jumped on it to get to the right height.  
Even then they were still barely able to reach the top of the desk, their head peaking out from under it.  
God, how could something so small survive Hallownest for so long?  
Lemm wasn't worrying at all about them obviously, not at all, that's simply not his style.  
The little one has finished and held up the paper over their head.  
On it, a crudely drawn spectre.  
"Ghost…? That's your name?"  
They nodded again, seemingly happy.  
"Alright then, I'll try to remember that."  
It's not like Lemm had many names to remember anyway.

And so life continued on as usual. Lemm worked, Ghost came from time to time, a pleasant visitor even if Lemm never fully admitted it.  
Sometimes things changed, sometimes Lemm decided to go out see the statue of the Hollow Knight despite the rain, just to wonder what they were, what were their role in the now fallen kingdom.  
One time he had met Ghost at the statue. They seemed… contemplative. Melancholic perhaps? Ghost's emotions were hard to read given their blank unchanging face, so Lemm wasn't sure.  
"It appears this statue interest you. Mysterious isn't it?"  
And Lemm goes on one of his spiel about the story of the city, just like usual.  
Except it wasn't like usual, and Lemm knew that.  
There was something heavy around Ghost surrounding the knight.  
Did Ghost knew more than Lemm?  
As he went back to his shop, Lemm suddenly came to a realisation.  
Both Ghost and the Hollow Knight looked eerily similar… it was all just a coincidence though probably… Right?

Lemm tried to not think too much about that.

One day Ghost came looking much different. Scraps on their mask, strange black particles seemingly coming out of them. They looked like they had gone through hell and back, and still, they took the time to see him and give him antiques.  
Lemm didn't even have the time to go on his usual spiels, Ghost already turning around to go back god knows where.  
Lemm stood up to catch back to them  
"Wait wait wait, do you really think you can go out like this? You're gonna get killed like that. Come on, at least rest a little bit. I got personal quarters deeper in this room, you can sleep there and then we'll advise how you feel later."  
Ghost seemed surprised by such kindness.  
God, what has that kid gone through?  
They nodded and followed Lemm to his room. It was small but cosy. Lemm had to help them get them up on his bed.  
Almost the second they layed on it they were asleep.  
Lemm smiled at the child sleeping so peacefully, feeling softness in his chest and… A sense of protectiveness. Wait a second…

Oh god, he's gotten attached to that little bug now.

Fuck.


End file.
